Chapter 14

Trisha’s P.O.V:

I left the Sanctuary with my palms itching and my heart heavy.

I was so close. Whatever Granny Dilliana knew was highly valuable. It felt like I was getting closer to understanding the relationship between Damien and Vandal. If only I could’ve found out today…

“Is this the proof you were talking about?” I asked Lucas on our way back.

“Yes.” He nodded. “Granny Dilliana is very old. The fact that she’s spoken to you for as long as she had is a miracle. But we couldn’t stress her too much. The people in Sanctuary love her and treat her with respect. It would’ve been impolite to stay longer with her condition worsening every day.”

“How long does she have?” I asked, understanding now why the people and her family had requested us to leave her to rest for today.

“Not long. She’s over ninety years and it’ll be sad to see her go, but at her age, it would be a relief.” Lucas shrugged before pulling something out of his pocket and handing it to me. “For you.”

It was a cell phone.

“Why now?” I asked him. I didn’t reach out for the phone immediately even though I wanted to. This could be a test for all I knew.

“To prove that you’re not a prisoner.” He offered the phone again and this time, I took it.

“Then I can rest assured that this phone doesn’t have trackers on it to trace my every call?” I raised my eyebrows at him and Lucas avoided eyes contact at all cost. “Just as I thought.”

“This isn’t about trust, Trisha. You should know that already. This is about the safety of our pack”

“I do understand.” I told him, jumping over a fallen log that was in our path. “Which is why I don’t understand why you’re giving me a phone rigged with trackers. If I wanted to get you guys caught, all of you would be dead by now.”

“I want to listen in when you call Damien.” Lucas finally admitted. “It’s him I don’t trust yet.”

I nodded. That was understandable. Lucas had trusted me with the location of his hideout as well as that of the Sanctuary, both of which came as a huge surprise to me, but Damien was the Vampire King. Lucas wouldn’t be able to trust him that easily.

“Fine. I’ll call Damien in front of you, but tonight I need to call my father, tell him I’m safe. Will you allow that much at least?” I asked.

Lucas stared ahead for a long time without saying anything. We had stopped walking in a darker region of the forest and his expressions were unreadable for a few minutes before he asked for the phone. When I handed it over to him, he opened the flap at the back of the old fashioned phone and pulled out a small round device that had a tiny blinking green light in the centre. He then placed the flap back into place and handed the cell phone back to me.

“Thank you.” I told him, relieved.

“I’m trusting you with this, Trisha.” Lucas pinned me with his eyes that had gone golden with the power of the wolf.

I simply nodded at him, unable to speak past the knot in my throat. How can I tell Lucas that I’ve already betrayed him once and was planning to do that again…?

****

When I returned back to the tree-house where we were staying, I went straight to my room to look for Neema. I knew Lucas’s people would keep him safe, but still I needed to see for myself that he was okay. Surprisingly, I found Neema laughing and playing with brooding ol’ Mark, who wasn’t brooding at all.

“Trisha!” Neema called out as soon as he saw me and jumped out of his seat, which caused the smile to disappear from Mark’s face.

“Hey baby!” I opened my arms when Neema came running into them to give me a tight hug. I was so glad to feel the layers of fat and muscles build over his fragile bones. He was healing and he was healing fast, and it only started to happen recently. “Have you been a good boy?” I asked when he pulled away from me to look at my face and I pressed my lips to each of his cheeks.

“I have. Mark gave me chocolate cake today!” No wonder Neema was a bundle of excitement.

“Did he now?” I looked towards Mark smiling. “Thank you.” I told him.

“He’s a good kid.” Mark shrugged.

“You know,” I told Mark. “I’m not going to complain to Lucas if you smile a little.”

Mark shook his head. “I’m not supposed to play with kids when I’m on duty.”

“But isn’t taking care of Neema a part of your duty?” I asked. “I’m sure you were only doing your duty when Neema asked you to play with him.”

Mark looked at us for a few moments of silence before shaking his head again. “It wasn’t just duty. I like kids and it kinda sucks that me and my husband can’t have any.”

“Oh?” I tilted my head to the side. “But you can surely adopt one?” I asked.

“No. Werewolf’s don’t have that many children and adopting a human will be far too painful since we’ll both outlive our child one day.” Mark’s voice held year’s old pain and I couldn’t help but reach out and place one hand on his shoulder.

“Then you can come visit Neema whenever you want and bring your mate with you.” I told him and for the first time since I’ve arrived here, I saw him smile genuinely at me.

After Mark left, I made Neema take a hot shower and then change into a pair of comfortable PJ’s that had arrived with a bundle of other clothing while I’d been away. It had been almost six in the evening by the time we returned and I had no idea where the time had flown by. Lucas was a talker and I definitely had a lot to learn from him.

We came to the entrance to the tunnel and I was wondering how we were going to get back up when Lucas called someone upstairs and they send down a ladder through the tunnel. It was a bit difficult to climb up than it had been to land, but I was guessing this wasn’t the only way up and down the aeries.

We had our dinner in our room since we were both pretty tired and then Neema was fast asleep beside me, his soft breathing letting me know that he wouldn’t be waking anytime soon.

That was when I took out the phone Lucas had given me and called father’s number.